Another City Letter

Dear City – There are plenty of things baffling me right now on how your run your operation. The first thing is telling me my sidewalk needs to be replaced and oh by the way me the citizen that already drops a ton of money to you for property taxes relative to the land I own will need to flip the bill. This is despite there being no issue with the cement and it is simply uneven with what you as the city poured a few years back linking one house to another one. You tell me it is a hazard and I can’t figure out how it could be unless you are walking in the dark dragging your feet like a knuckle dragging cave man. You will undoubtedly get a visit from this citizen on that issue.

If that is not enough, I was diligent last weekend and was cleaning out the garage. While this took place, I discovered a fair amount of plastic bags – already bagged up but just sitting there serving zero purposes and a good amount of empty non-refundable bottles. This is all in addition to a fair amount of newspapers already bagged up but no place to go. Why ids that the case? You do not provide a recycling service with trash pickup. I am far from Mr. Green but this is 2008. Are you not twenty years late on offering such a service? Sure I can drive a few miles down the road and use the “recycling center” but that seems kind of cheap and lazy for a city your size. I do the responsible thing and put the recyclable items in the car. Come to find out I get there you will NOT accept plastic bags nor will you accept green glass. WTF! A fruitless trip that caused me to bring back well over half the garbage that needs to be recycled and might consider throwing away in the trash. I would love to know the rationale over the green glass as well as the plastic bags. I will figure out which department that is the day I stop by to discuss the cement.

You can rest assure if I was paying much more in taxes I would be a thorn in your side through several different methods.

Until next time – Midwest Gent

Note to all - Why does everything need to be an all out effort to get anything done in this world? It seems as time goes on the tasks grow as well as the time it takes to complete the tasks. The worst part is none of these tasks are really that outstanding other than the human factor involved with them putting up the psychological barriers. Who benefits from such barriers?

NEW PITA

I have a new PITA in my life. WHY ...WHY must I get books and DVD's sent to my home that I have not asked for and they come with the "If you keep for thirty days, we will charge you $XX.XX" when I have never even requested to eve try out any of these unrelated services.

I am trying to contain myself from calling these clowns and losing it on the phone. That of course never is good because the phone person on the other end is EXTREMELY far away from the clowns that decide this could be a good practice.

To those clowns - Why must you inconvenience my life with your clutter and than in order not to pay for those items request I take time out of my day to send things back to you I NEVER even asked for in the first place. Those are AWFUL business practices.

I think I feel better.

PS - I hope all you know now what "PITA" stands for. I will help with "Pain in the"

Rings

This is something that I have noticed for some time but it seems more prevalent than ever at least to this blogger. What you may ask? People not wearing their wedding rings/bands these days - both men and women.

I am slightly baffled why people have taken up this trend and run with it. Are they a pain in the butt to wear? Are they somehow different than they were twenty years ago per se? Are people ashamed or embarrassed for being married?

I am someone who owns zero jewelry and have not worn a watch in years. At the same time, if I were married you can bet that the wedding band would be on my hand at ALL TIMES other than unforeseen circumstances. I would want people to see my pride in being married through the wearing of my ring among other things. It is for sure interesting how people go about things.

You do not have to be a genius to have money

When do you have too much money? When do you come across as a complete dope? When you don’t know you owe $400,000. It does not even come close to stopping there.

According to the hotel where the gambling took place, the debt was from October 2007 while Chuck claims it was from the 2008 Super Bowl which would be four months later.

Chuck later claims this did not have to go to court. He continues saying “All they had to do is call and say, 'Hey, you owe us this money’”. Now I have trouble thinking they did not make a phone call or two to Chuck or one of his people (I assume someone who has a debt of $400,000 he can blow off will have “people”) letting them know the debt was due.

The end of the article points Barkley claiming he last $10M gambling. He did not consider this an issue since he plenty of money. People – you lose that much money gambling you do have a problem – you are a bad gambler and those with Chuck should for sure bet against him.

"Chick Magnet"

I feel like 2008 is moving at light speed. This may have to do with things that keep on coming up at a rapid pace in my life. I have not even submitted an entry in more than a week and it is like I am behind the times. I guess when your car dies and you run around looking for something while your health is far from 100%, you can excuse such things. Anyways – you have had enough of my blubbering and on to some random points.

Your humble blogger was wrong a month or two back when he told you the Pistons were out in the second round. They actually look like they give a damn. I actually look forward to seeing how they do in the next round.

I will admit it – I have lost total and complete interest in this town’s baseball team. I will not even dignify their existence by noting what their name is and commenting on them any further.

Kwame is having fund raisers for his legal funds. The best part – someone is actually attending and PAYING money to aid this cause.

To the guy that sold me the car this week – domestic used cars are not usually thought of as “chick magnets”. They are “modes of transportation” for those of us who can’t figure out where people have the money to even lease those foreign luxury cars when they look fairly younger than themselves.

I am thinking it is time for Hillary to step down to save face. She is losing super delegates at a rapid pace. The Democrats are not able to rest a bit before November. In the process, the longer she waits, the more she is risking losing any opportunities she may have whether it is a VP spot or a place in Obama’s cabinet were he to win in November. Do you think she wants to bow out but her buddy Bubba is telling otherwise? Needless to say he gives the campaign a strange dynamic.

All I think these days when I look at John McCain – Reagan Democrats.

If McCain does not say a word between now and November, I think Obama will do a good job helping John out simply by putting his foot in this mouth as he has done a few times recently. I think Howard Dean and the people have their work out for them. We will see.

All Over the Map

Well, the Michigan Senate has voted to join the 21st century by passing a bill that would ban smoking in all Michigan work places. This will include such as clubs, restaurants and bars. The bill will be sent to the House who previously passed a similar bill but it allowed smoking in casinos, bingo halls, and cigar bars.

I openly admit this is a very good thing for me because I just don’t do well in smoky environments. As a result, I for sure like this bill and hope it successfully passes all the way to the Governor who has already said she will sign on the bill.

One counter argument is the government should not be passing laws that controls human behavior. One could say it is up to the bar/restaurant owners to determine if smoking will be allowed since it is they who own the operation. Some bar owners claim it will hurt business. Along the same line, is it not the right of someone smoking if they do it in a designated area to do what they please? That is something to think about as you see the bill passed into law.

One more while we are on a roll:

I lumbered by slightly ailing body to the Collection this afternoon to find an item for the big day Sunday. Before I went in I chuckled as I always do because I am told how bad the Michigan economy is and I am struggling to find a parking spot in the sea of $40K automobiles. Anyways, I knew what I wanted and where I could get it or so I thought. The first place I went we will refer to as “Bill S” (My readers are geniuses). There is a sea of people working here. I stated what I wanted to the gentlemen and he turned around and pointed toward the back of the store. I am thinking “DUDE – walk me back there. I am a man in a strange land who is already lumbering and have only so much energy to expend on my venture out of the house.” Low and behold I walked back there and figured something important – I need to note the item I want has to be electric, not manual. The woman who was assigned to help me showed me a few items but they did not fit the bill. I asked if they had anything through the Internet and I received a slightly bewildered look. I quickly looked at my clock to make sure we were in 2008 and not 1983. I left thinking that experience left quite a bit to be desired. You have fifteen people walking around with ear pieces and the experience was still terrible. I did not end up finding what I thought would be available. In the end, I only blamed myself because I did not do what I know I should have done – order the damn thing from the Internet. I will make sure the receiver of this gift is in agreement what should be ordered and deliver the item one week late.

Slightly Baffled

I am trying to figure out why when I look at my search stats that I have a moderate amount of referrals from cnn.com. I went to the website - cnn.com - to investigate and have not been able to come up with the answer. Is CNN posting my blog? I would like to think other blogs are dealing with more news oriented items than this small blog. That is my one small thought this Thursday evening.

So today....

I got an email from "1000's of Horny Singles" and the subject was "Get Your Rocks Off". First of all, I find it funny that any parent would call their child "1000's of" especially to go with the middle name of "Horny" and last name "Singles". The only thing more peculiar is the subject. I don't think rocks is a very good analogy as it just does not sound good. The last weird thing is usually such a message goes to the spam folder. Am I lead to believe I might even know this person who goes by the first name of "1000's of".

I have not opened the message. I will leave it there and may consider it if I receive some sort of related follow up message from "1000's of" or someone related to The "Singles" family.

Please note that after the last post which was probably too serious for my readership I decided to lighten it up. I digress

Success

Saturday, I sat down as I do every year and watched the Kentucky Derby. I have thought in years past that I would want to go to the event but it has just never materialized. It looks like a fun event but I would have to be out in the sun all day and I know how I do with that – not good. That is completely immaterial to this post.

Yesterday saw a fairly quick race ran and won by the 5-2 favorite Big Brown, beating out the filly Eight Belles. Eight Belles made an attempt to be the fourth filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Big Brown ran a good race not using too much energy at the beginning and pull out to a definitive win. Big Brown, his jockey as well as the whole team were seen celebrating the day’s success. There was numerous personal interest stories were being told in relations to the winning horse. While all this was going on, the second place horse Eight Belles ended up suffering two broken front ankles. The decision was immediately to have her euthanized.

As I saw all this playing out on TV, I have to tell you it did strike a chord with me. A horse that was so close to winning the Kentucky Derby and still submitting a great performance regardless of the result was gone in a matter of moments. There was no enjoyment of the accomplishment of her efforts and obviously no opportunity to build upon it.

The lesson in this instance is simple. Success is something that is tough to come by and should be enjoyed when you are experiencing because it can be snatched away without notice. Success comes in many different flavors and how it is perceived is up to those experiencing it as well as those who are the successful person. Success to some is “nothing more” than having their health while others put success on bank accounts and luxury items. Of course there are numerous measurements for success that one can use.

It seems the timing of all this is interesting since recently I was given a small reminder to not take anything for granted. I have been given a small setback if you will that will be temporary but nonetheless have a long term impact on my life. While this was going on, I was offered a nice “vote of confidence” which is a byproduct of hard work and diligence- as well as opportunity - on my part. In the end, both the setback and “vote of confidence” will be perceived as good things because of their bi products. The setback is not positive but there were plenty of very nice attributes that came along with it. Failure is sometimes like that. Overall, much like beauty, success lies in the eye of the beholder.